despite the protests of some people in this forum, i am indeed sticking with AMD X2 over Intel C2D, though i did change to a much faster model than first listed, as i found a great deal on it... and it should be more than enough for my system... here is the complete, and pretty much final listing...
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0 GHz / 2MB Cache / 1000MHz (2000 MT/s) FSB / Socket AM2 / Dual Core (Windsor) / Processor with Fan
Motherboard: Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe / NVIDIA nForce 570 / Socket AM2 / ATX / Audio / PCI Express / SLI Ready / Gigabit LAN / S/PDIF / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA / RAID / Motherboard
Memory/RAM: G.SKILL / Dual Channel / 2GB (2 x 1GB) / PC6400 DDR2 / 800MHz / Memory
Video Card: EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS / 640MB GDDR3 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV / HDCP Enabled / Video Card
Hard Drive: Seagate / 320GB / 7200 / 16MB / Serial ATA-300 / OEM / Hard Drive
*Power Supply: Ultra / X-Connect / 500-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm Fan / Titanium-Color / UV Clear Sides / Modular Power Supply
DVD Burner: Lite-On LH-20A1L-06 SuperAllwrite / 20x DVD±R Burn / 16x DVD±R Read / 8x DVD+RW / 6x DVD-RW / 8x DVD±R DL / 12x DVD-RAM / 48x32x CD-R/RW / Black / SATA / DVD Burner with Lightscribe
Case: Raidmax Ninja / Black / ATX Mid-Tower Case / Clear Side, Front USB and Audio Ports and 450-Watt Power Supply
Monitor: Samsung 226BW / 22" Wide / 2ms / 1000:1(DC 3000:1) Contrast Ratio / WSXGA+ 1680 x 1050 / Gloss Black / DVI / Widescreen LCD Monitor
Input Devices: Logitech MX3200 Cordless Desktop / Keyboard and Laser Mouse Combo
OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Pro Edition OEM Version SP2
* im only gonna buy a new power supply if (or when, rather...) the one my case comes with fails...
well, thats it folks.... its changed alot since i first thought it up, and a lot of the different parts i decided to put in are really gonna make it nice i think... the only thing is that with all the upgrades i put in, im gonna be about $200 over budget still and will likely be forced to wait till the end of the month to actually buy everything... everything is either off of newegg or tigerdirect as they have the lowest prices (unless someone knows somewhere just as reliable i can get parts for less?)...
unless anyone has any final thoughts, comments, or concerns...
thank you to everyone out there who helped me out by posting in this thread, i really appreciate it... ill see ya'll on some random game server some day soon... thanks - J